Urban Ring Drops Medford Bus Service, Keeps Storage

– Ken Krause

Urban Ring buses may be coming to Medford some day, but don’t expect to be able to ride them.

A revised plan for the Urban Ring bus rapid transit network announced last week would eliminate Medford from the service area, but still add a storage and maintenance facility for at least half of the system’s buses at Wellington Station.

The Executive Office of Transportation (EOT) last week released a Notice of Project Change for Phase 2 of the Urban Ring, which is planned to run in a roughly circular corridor serving employment centers, residential neighborhoods, and major educational and medical institutions in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Medford and Somerville.

Previously, Wellington was the northernmost stop in the Urban Ring’s Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA), with buses traversing Revere Beach Parkway in two directions. One route was to go to Route 28 and on to Assembly Square; the other would go Route 99 and on to Everett, Chelsea, East Boston and Logan Airport.

In the revised alignment, the buses would not enter Medford nor go to Wellington Station. Rather, from Everett they would continue south along the Newburyport/ Rockport commuter rail corridor, cross the Mystic River on Route 99, and connect to Sullivan Square via bus-only roadway segments.

EOT said it recommends this change “due to issues raised about environmental impacts of the busway along the edge of Revere Beach Parkway, environmental impacts from the new bridge crossing proposed for the Malden River, congestion at Wellington Circle and uncertainty about implementation of the proposed Wellington Circle grade separation.”

“At the same time, the City of Boston has undertaken a review of potential roadway configuration and circulation changes that could help to provide a faster, more reliable connection from the Alford Street Bridge to Sullivan Square Station. This alignment would also have the advantage of increasing the percentage of dedicated right-of-way, compared to the LPA’s use of Revere Beach Parkway and Route 28 in mixed traffic.”

What is not changed, according to Urban Ring Project Manager Ned Codd, is the plan for the 75 or so buses that will service the Northern Tier of the Urban Ring to be stored and maintained at a new facility being planned for Wellington Station that also will house conventional MBTA buses formerly stored on Salem Street.

The Notice of Project Change is posted on the project website, www.theurbanring.com, in the Current Materials section.

A 30-day public comment period on the document is now open.  Written comments should be sent by August 7, 2009 to:

Secretary Ian Bowles
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114
Attention: MEPA Office, EEA #12565, Richard Bourre, Assistant Director